Secure system and method to pay for a service provided at a reservation

ABSTRACT

A method and system for allowing the setting of reservations and the pre-authorization of credit to purchase a desired service for which a reservation is made. A customer accesses a reservation system that is integrated with a credit authorization system. The customer may make a reservation and substantially simultaneously become pre-authorized to pay for services to be provided at the reservation by one of any number of credit providers. Pre-authorized credit and reservation information is then supplied to the service provider in advance of services being provided, expediting the overall transaction time and allowing for a secure and cardless transaction procedure. The reservation and preauthorization information are typically stored upon the reservation system and then passed to the point-of-sale systems, but other types of input/output storage devices could be used to perform this function.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser.No. 11/239,731 filed on Sep. 29, 2005 and entitled “Reservation-BasedPreauthorization Payment System.” Applicant hereby claims the benefit ofthat earlier application to the extent permitted by law and incorporatesby reference the entirety herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to an integrated reservation,secure payment and information management system. The overall systemallows a customer to make a reservation and make arrangements tosecurely pay for services to be provided at the reservation. Themanagement component of the system generally allows a vendor, throughthe reservation system, to manage reservations and payments for servicesprovided at a reservation. The reservation and secure paymentinformation are preferably stored upon the reservation system andprovided to the management system, such as a vendor's point-of-sale(“POS”) systems, upon direction or as otherwise automatically programmedinto the overall system. The overall system is designed to provide aricher and safer on-line/off-line experience to both the customer and tothe service provider.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Reservations to purchase services or products are customarily eithermade in person, by phone or through use of an on-line reservationsystem. It is to be understood that “service” is used throughout thisspecification as including both services and products to be purchased inthe future, and should be so understood by a person of skill in the art.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic principles of prior artreservation systems. The figure generally describes a customer 20contacting a network, such as a phone or computer network 22, to make areservation with a particular service provider 24. Using the system, thecustomer 20 selects a date and time for her reservation, submitting herrequest to the reservation system 22. Once the information is receivedby the reservation system 22, the reservation is verified, often againstthe reservation system's electronic database of available times and daysfor particular services. If the date or time is not available, thecustomer 20 is prompted by the reservation system 22 to select anotherdate or time. If the date and time are available, the reservation system22 reserves the reservation in known fashion.

On the day and time of the reservation, the customer will often travelto the service provider 24, requesting and then receiving reservedand/or other services. The customer next often receives a bill forservices provided, paying the bill by the tender of cash, check orcredit card. Often, the customer then waits for the transaction to becompleted by the receipt of change or authorization/verification of thecheck or that the credit account has sufficient credit to cover incurredcharges.

When credit is used as a payment method, the typical creditauthorization process limits the speed at which the transaction can takeplace. For instance, typically a customer receives a bill for servicesrendered. The customer, after reviewing the bill, must then oftenattract the attention of the service provider to hand a credit device,such as a card, to the service provider, who then must obtain anauthorization from any one of several known credit authorizing systems.It is not uncommon for this total process to take in excess of severalminutes. To obtain that authorization, a vendor normally runs the creditdevice and/or other account information through its POS or other type ofknown verifying system. Some examples of known POS systems are Micros,Aloha and Maitre'd. The process, while sometimes only taking seconds,can take much more time.

Once authorization has been achieved, a bill is provided to thecustomer, who then may add a gratuity and/or sign the receipt. Once thathas occurred, the customer is generally free to leave. Once the customerhas left, however, the vendor still often must enter an includedgratuity, utilizing more of both the vendor's and the credit cardauthorization system's time and assets. Obviously, the prior art processis cumbersome to both the customer and provider.

The security of credit account information, identification informationand perhaps other information is also always at issue in the traditionalservice provider-customer credit payment transaction process. Thetraditional transaction model usually requires payment by the use of anactual card or other instrument. Under this transaction model, thecustomer's credit card and, often times, some form of personalidentification (such as a driver's license) leaves the possession of thecustomer at the time authorization is performed. Unscrupulousthird-parties (including service provider staff, other customers, etc.)may then have access to the customer's credit account and personalidentification information. With that access, it is possible for thethird party to perpetrate any number of forms of identity theft and/orother fraud upon the customer.

Also, under the traditional service provider-customer credit accounttransaction model, customers typically only become aware that theircredit line has been or is about to be exceeded after a failed attemptfor authorization occurs. For a customer, it may be embarrassing to findout that a proposed credit charge has been denied. A denied creditrequest also may be frustrating and worrisome to the service provider,who may question whether the customer will be able to ultimately tenderpayment for services rendered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention addresses these and other issues raised by knownsystems. For instance, under an exemplary embodiment of the inventivesystem, a customer may be informed prior to obtaining services from theservice provider as to whether or not their chosen credit account has asufficient credit line for the services to be provided. Also, under theexemplary system, the service provider is never provided with thecustomer's account information. Rather, all the service providerreceives is preauthorization or payment code information—payment accountinformation remains securely stored within the reservation system. Also,by preauthorizing payment for services to be provided, the overallpayment process will be streamlined, potentially eliminating the entireat-the-provider authorization step, saving both the vendor and customertime and effort.

One exemplary embodiment of the present invention has several aspectsand includes an integrated reservation, payment and vendor informationmanagement system. The system allows a customer to make reservationswith a service provider and to provide that service provider withinformation concerning a method of payment to satisfy a bill forservices to be purchased, with that information preferably being storedin the reservation system and provided to the service provider'smanagement device, such as a POS, only as designed or needed. A methodof payment could concern credit issued on any account known to thesystem and for a dollar amount which could be ascertained in any numberof fashions. When a customer arrives at a service provider, the system,typically through a POS or similar device, will alert the serviceprovider that the customer has a payment on file. With that information,payment of the final bill should be facilitated. Facilitation couldinclude the automatic printing of a final bill with payment on fileinformation, tip line, comment line, etc., and signature line alreadyincluded thereon.

Typically, a customer may access a reservation system in a number offashions. A customer may call a service provider directly; a customermay place a telephone call to a reservation clearing house; a customermay access an internet/www based reservation system; etc. The conceptsof the present system will work with any of these and other types ofreservation systems. Nevertheless, the system will be described inconnection with a customer accessing a computer network-basedreservation system.

Upon accessing the reservation system, a customer can register to becomean authorized system user. During the registration process, generalpersonal information, such as name and contact information may begathered. The customer can preferably view a list of subscribing serviceproviders, such as restaurants, automotive repair shops, health clubs,personal hygiene professionals, etc., and the menu of services eachprovides. If desired and registered, the customer can next attempt tomake a reservation to purchase an offered service, requesting a date andtime to have that service provided and/or other requests, such asspecific seat and table preferences, etc.

(a) The Preauthorization Model

At the time the reservation is made, the customer may preferably next beprompted to select a credit account payment option. If the customer doesnot choose that option or if such an option is unavailable from theselected provider or to the customer, the reservation will simply becompleted. Should the preauthorized credit account payment option bechosen, however, the customer will be prompted to make additionalselections.

At this point, the customer preferably has several options topotentially pursue. If a returning customer, the customer may selectfrom a menu or other similar device a credit account previouslyregistered with the system and which the customer wishes to utilize forthe then under-consideration transaction. A second option preferablyavailable to the customer is to supply the system with informationconcerning a new or different preexisting credit account. If a customerchooses to use a preexisting credit account, the customer is prompted toprovide required identification information into the reservation system.The system will then perform appropriate verification of theinformation.

If there is sufficient credit on a selected account, a preauthorizationis awarded, and the reservation information being supplied to and storedas a functional unit usually by the reservation system. The customer andperhaps the service provider may also be provided the preauthorizationand reservation information for its records.

A third option available to a customer is to apply for instant or othercredit through the system.

Instant credit processing systems are known and the following areincorporated herein by reference in their entirety: U.S. Pat. No.6,887,656, U.S. Pat. No. 7,131,583, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,302,719.

In the instant credit situation, the customer is prompted to complete acredit application. The system then conducts a credit check and/orperforms other known operations. The credit issuing system, which may bepart of the overall reservation system or a stand-alone system, willapprove or deny the customer's request for credit based upon any numberof prerequisites and system settings, as are generally known in theindustry. If the customer's credit application is denied, the customeris so notified and may still request preauthorization with use of apreexisting credit account or request a non-credit preauthorizationreservation. If new credit is approved, the customer is notified of thecredit limit for the new account and a credit authorization and otherinformation is sent to the reservation system, as generally describedabove. The system may also provide the customer with new accountinformation and/or devices, such as an account number or credit card,which could be used to pay for purchases made outside of the overallsystem. Once issued by the system, a customer is free to makereservations and have credit authorizations issued to selected serviceproviders operating within the system, up to the customer's authorizedcredit limit on any given account.

The dollar amount of credit that may be preauthorized is dependent upona number of factors. First, a preauthorized dollar amount could berequested by the customer and/or service provider. Additionally, forcustomers that have sufficiently high credit ratings, the system couldpreferably authorize any amount actually charged during the reservation,up to predetermined security ceilings. The system could also calculate adollar amount to be preauthorized utilizing reservation informationand/or perhaps other metrics. For instance, a service provider may trackthe average cost of services typically rendered. That figure may bestored within the overall system and may be used to calculate the amountof preauthorized credit to be awarded any customer who makes areservation at that or similar service providers. Other metrics may alsobe utilized, as will be understood by those skilled in the art. How muchcredit shall be preauthorized and how that figure is arrived at is adynamic that will be left to and is well within the skill of thoseworking in this art. Suffice it to say, however, that the amount ofcredit which will be preauthorized through the system will be dictatedby customer preferences, member service provider preferences,reservation information or some combination thereof, in addition toother metrics or input data that may be used to determine the amount ofcredit to be preauthorized.

With reference now to a customer receiving reserved services, at anappointed time and day, the customer may arrive at the service providerand identify him/herself as the customer having previously made areservation. Unique customer information (i.e., a code, biometric, callback, etc.) may next be provided to the vendor, perhaps by entering dataprovided by the customer into the provider's management system. Thatsystem may preferably be programmed to then query the reservation systemand/or an associated database to determine if in fact the customer has areservation and if that customer has received preauthorization to payfor services to be provided with credit. Retrieved information isgenerally forwarded back to the vendor's management system for useduring the then-to-be-concluded transaction.

Next, the customer orders and receives requested services. The customerfinally requests a bill for services rendered. The service providerfinalizes the service request, usually on its POS system. That systemrecognizes the customer's transaction as a pre-authorized credit paymentand issues a specialized bill for services rendered. The customer signsthe special receipt, having the option to leave an additional tip, andleaves the service provider. The service provider completes thetransaction by submitting the final customer-authorized total paymentand perhaps other desired information to the reservation system. Thatsystem will then preferably send required information to an associatedcredit acquisition or other similar system for payment.

Yet another aspect of the present invention allows for the payment ofservices by a third-party to the transaction. For example, a party mayregister on the system, make a reservation, and request credit forservices to be provided to another. This aspect of the invention may bemost attractive to parents making reservations for and paying forservices or products to be consumed by a child.

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention can be used inconjunction with all service providers that take reservations. Forexample, the present invention can be used with restaurant services toprovide a system of making reservations and for preauthorization ofcredit to be used to pay for services reserved. In practice, a customermay access the integrated reservation system to select a participatingrestaurant and to make a reservation. The customer is then given thesame options as described above: continue with just a reservation ormake a reservation in conjunction with preauthorizing a credit paymentfor services reserved and to be purchased. On the date of thereservation, the customer travels to the restaurant and identifieshim/herself as having a reservation. Upon verification of thatreservation, the customer is seated and orders a meal. After the meal,the customer requests the bill. The restaurant's management or othersystem recognizes the customer as pre-authorized for credit andgenerates a unique check for the customer to sign. The customer thenreceives the check and has the option to add a tip. The customer nextsigns the bill and then leaves the restaurant. The restaurant enters,either manually or automatically, the final total of the bill andperhaps other information into its management system, which can transmitdata to the reservation system, credit acquirer and/or other appropriatesystems. The reservation system, credit acquirer or other systemtransmits payment to the restaurant and bills the customer for thatservice payment. The entire payment process occurs without the serviceprovider ever being privy to the customer's credit account informationand without the need of the customer providing the restaurant with acredit card or similar device.

(b) The Secure Payment Model

In accordance with another novel exemplary embodiment, a payment on filetype of configuration is utilized to facilitate purchases.

More particularly, a payment to be used for a purchase is stored. Thispayment can include a certain pre-authorized limit and include one ormore identifiers that identify the goods/services and/or vendor thepurchase will be made with. For example, a customer arrives at a vendorand is identified as having a payment on file, and optionally areservation as well. The arrival at the vendor can optionally betriggered based, for example, on a detected presence (using knowntechnology) of the customer, such as the customer's PDA or cell phone,with identity information and reservation information also optionallybeing forwarded to the vendor. The vendor can create a customer ticketand correlate the ticket to the customer profile.

In accordance with one exemplary embodiment, the customer ticketinformation is on the point of sale and services/goods are recorded orotherwise provided on the ticket. For example, in accordance with yetanother exemplary embodiment, a remote reservation system is contactedfor ticket creation or alternatively still, the customer supplies someof the ticket information.

During check-out, three scenarios can occur. The first is an expresscheck-out option, the second is a self check-out or check-in with, forexample, a mobile device and the third scenario occurs when payment isrejected.

For express check-out, the point of sale can confirm the ticket iscomplete. For example, by querying a database of the reservation system,securing information about the payment on file, and applying anyapplicable coupons, gift cards, etc., and applying the same to theticket. The ticket can then be confirmed by the customer and printed.Once confirmed, the customer can complete the ticket, through applyingtheir signature, and is able to leave the vendor with the purchasedgoods and/or services. The vendor then inputs the completed ticketinformation into the point of sale system, altering, for example, theamount to be paid if a tip has been added.

For the second scenario, a mobile device can send instructions to thevendor point of sale requesting a ticket be sent to the device. Thepoint of sale can confirm the ticket is complete, for example, byquerying the database as described above and applying coupons, discountcodes, gift cards, and the like, to determine a total amount due. Oncecomplete, the confirmed and completed ticket can be sent to thecustomer's device where the customer has the option of adding gratuity,confirming ticket accuracy, and authorizing payment from the payment onfile account and the confirmed and completed ticket being returned, forexample, wirelessly, to the point of sale. If the mobile device has suchcapabilities, an electronic signature can also be captured on the mobiledevice and forwarded with the confirmed and completed ticket back to thepoint of sale.

For both scenarios one and two, the point of sale then sends theinformation to the database/reservation system indicating the goodsand/or services provided, the total to be paid, and requesting paymentfrom the payment on file. The service provider typically then advisesthat the transaction is complete and optionally provides the POS, orvendor, with an authorization code. Then, the database and/orreservation system processes the POS request, debiting the customeraccount and crediting the vendor account, and sending notice of the sameto the POS and one or more other designated systems.

In the third scenario, where payment is rejected, a customer canoptionally complete payment for the goods or services in a traditionalmanner, e.g. cash, check, credit card, or the like.

On the reservation side of the system, a customer queries a reservationsystem looking for a placed reservation. This could be based on, forexample, one or more of name, loyalty rewards program number, socialsecurity number, address information, e-mail information, or in generalonly information that allows the customer to identify a placedreservation. Once the reservation is found, a query is performed tolocate alternative payment methods to which the customer alreadysubscribes. These alternative payment methods can be, for example, anye-commerce business model that allows payments and money transfers to bemade through the Internet. One example of such service is PayPal® aswell as E-Cash, the Ripple Monitory System, PayMate, and GoogleCheck-Out.

If an alternative payment method is found, the customer can confirmtheir reservation and be provided with an interface that allows apayment on file to be created. For example, the necessary informationcan be requested from the customer such that the reservation system isable to access the payment on file account, such as the last four digitsof the social security number (SSN), login information, billinginformation, or the like. With this information, the reservation systemis able to communicate with the payment on file system to approve thetransaction.

Once the transaction is approved, the customer can be provided withconfirmation of the reservation via confirmation, such as an e-mail, SMSmessage, voice message, or the like, and also be provided withinstructions on how to alert the service provided to the payment onfile, and optionally any other pertinent information. The customer canalso add coupons, loyalty program numbers, preferences, cell phonenumber, address information, shipping information, payment record, orany other relevant information as needed. This information then can becollected and added to the reservation.

On the back-end, a unique payment on file code is generated and storedin conjunction with the reservation. The payment on file information caninclude code information at the database, such as the reservation systemdatabase. Next, the vendor's point of sale system is informed of thereservation, that there is a payment on file for goods and/or servicesto be provided, and any other necessary data to complete thetransaction, such as code information. Some or all of the aboveinformation can be sent to the point of sale, or only a portion sent tothe point of sale with the point of sale accessing needed informationfrom the database.

While the secure payment model can be used with the previously discussedpreauthorization model, that need not be the case. Rather, both modelscan work independently, together or aspects of each could be combined asdesired by a skilled artisan.

The exemplary embodiments of the present invention can provide a numberof advantages depending on the particular configuration. These and otheradvantages will be apparent from the disclosure of the invention(s)contained herein.

The phrases “at least one”, “one or more”, and “and/or” are open-endedexpressions that are both conjunctive and disjunctive in operation. Forexample, each of the expressions “at least one of A, B and C”, “at leastone of A, B, or C”, “one or more of A, B, and C”, “one or more of A, B,or C” and “A, B, and/or C” means A alone, B alone, C alone, A and Btogether, A and C together, B and C together, or A, B and C together.

The term “a” or “an” entity refers to one or more of that entity. Assuch, the terms “a” (or “an”), “one or more” and “at least one” can beused interchangeably herein. It is also to be noted that the terms“comprising”, “including”, and “having” can be used interchangeably.

The term “automatic” and variations thereof, as used herein, refers toany process or operation done without material human input when theprocess or operation is performed. However, a process or operation canbe automatic even if performance of the process or operation uses humaninput, whether material or immaterial, received before performance ofthe process or operation. Human input is deemed to be material if suchinput influences how the process or operation will be performed. Humaninput that consents to the performance of the process or operation isnot deemed to be “material.”

The term “computer-readable medium” as used herein refers to anytangible storage and/or transmission medium that participate inproviding instructions to a processor for execution. Such a medium maytake many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media,volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media includes, forexample, NVRAM, or magnetic or optical disks. Volatile media includesdynamic memory, such as main memory. Common forms of computer-readablemedia include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk,magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, magneto-optical medium, aCD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any otherphysical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, aFLASH-EPROM, a solid state medium like a memory card, any other memorychip or cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any othermedium from which a computer can read. A digital file attachment toe-mail or other self-contained information archive or set of archives isconsidered a distribution medium equivalent to a tangible storagemedium. When the computer-readable media is configured as a database, itis to be understood that the database may be any type of database, suchas relational, hierarchical, object-oriented, and/or the like.

While circuit or packet-switched types of communications can be usedwith the present invention, the concepts and techniques disclosed hereinare applicable to other communications types, protocols andcommunications techniques.

Accordingly, the invention is considered to include a tangible storagemedium or distribution medium and prior art-recognized equivalents andsuccessor media, in which the software implementations of the presentinvention are stored.

The terms “determine,” “calculate” and “compute,” and variationsthereof, as used herein, are used interchangeably and include any typeof methodology, process, mathematical operation or technique.

The term “module” as used herein refers to any known or later developedhardware, software, firmware, artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic, orcombination of hardware and software that is capable of performing thefunctionality associated with that element. Also, while the invention isdescribed in terms of exemplary embodiments, it should be appreciatedthat individual aspects of the invention can be separately claimed.

The preceding is a simplified summary of embodiments of the invention toprovide an understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summaryis neither an extensive nor exhaustive overview of the invention and itsvarious embodiments. It is intended neither to identify key or criticalelements of the invention nor to delineate the scope of the inventionbut to present selected concepts of the invention in a simplified formas an introduction to the more detailed description presented below. Aswill be appreciated, other embodiments of the invention are possibleutilizing, alone or in combination, one or more of the features setforth above or described in detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of prior art reservation systems.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system according to one aspect of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a reservation and credit issuingsystem according to another aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating payment to a service provideraccording to another aspect of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing some componentry of the preferredreservation and preauthorization information receipt and storage deviceof the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the overall architecture of a preferredembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary embodiment for paymenton file according to this invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method for reservation managementfor payment on file according to this invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart further illustrating the method of FIG. 8.

It should be understood that the drawings are not necessarily to scale.In certain instances, details which are not necessary for anunderstanding of the invention or which render other details difficultto perceive may have been omitted. It should be understood, of course,that the invention is not necessarily limited to the particularembodiments illustrated in the drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The invention will be described below in relation to a computingenvironment, and in particular a sale transaction environment. Althoughwell suited for use with POS and mobile computing devices, the inventionis not limited to use with any particular type of device orconfiguration of system elements and those skilled in the art willrecognize that the disclosed techniques may be used in any environmentin which it is desirable to provide context-based changes to operation.The various techniques described herein can be used with any device suchas a telephone, speakerphone, cellular phone, SIP-enabled endpoint,softphone, PDA, POS, wired or wireless communication device, PC, desktopcomputer, laptop, or in general any device(s) that is capable ofsupporting a sales transaction.

The exemplary systems and methods of this invention will also bedescribed in relation to software, modules, and associated hardware andnetwork(s). In order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the presentinvention, the following description omits well-known structures,components and devices that may be shown in block diagram form, are wellknown, or are otherwise summarized.

purposes of explanation, numerous details are set forth in order toprovide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It should beappreciated however, that the present invention may be practiced in avariety of ways beyond the specific details set forth herein.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing some of the principles of an exemplaryintegrated reservation and preauthorized credit method and managementsystem. Customer 26 preferably first accesses a reservation system 28.The reservation system 28, whether phone, Internet or other networkbased system, first prompts an existing system customer 26 to enteridentification information or prompts a new customer 26 to register as anew user on the reservation system 28. In the latter scenario, thereservation system 28 will request a series of input from customer 26,which may include personal identification information (e.g., name,address, phone number, e-mail address, etc.), the selection of a uniquepersonal identification code or name (e.g., username), and a password orother personal identification information, such as a call back number, avoice recognition print or other biometric information, calleridentification information, etc.

Once registered, the reservation system 28 will usually next prompt thecustomer 26 to select a desired service provider and enter reservationinformation (e.g., location, date, time, services desired, etc.). Once areservation is selected and verified as available, the system usuallymoves to a credit preauthorization processing step.

The reservation system 28 preferably next prompts the customer to payfor services to be provided at an available reservation through apreauthorized credit option. If the customer selects that option, thecustomer is asked to either apply for credit through the system (processdescribed above) 31, to select a preexisting credit account alreadyregistered with the system or to enter information concerning apreexisting credit account into the system. Once an account is selected,the system checks to determine that account has a sufficient availablecredit limit. If so, preauthorization of at least some credit isgranted. Next, preauthorization information, along with the reservationinformation, is preferably provided to the reservation system. Inanother embodiment of the invention, that same information couldsimultaneously be provided to member service provider 32 and/or customer26. In yet another embodiment of the invention, the reservation andpreauthorization information could be provided first to member serviceprovider 32, and then, perhaps, subsequently to the reservation system28 and customer 26. If preauthorization is denied, only the customer isnotified, who may attempt to receive preauthorization through anothercredit account or simply have the reservation, without preauthorizationof credit, sent to the reservation system 28 and/or member serviceprovider 32.

As explained, the customer 26 can also apply for and receive a new lineof credit through the system. If the customer 26 applies for new credit,the credit authorizing system 30 will typically communicate with acredit issuing system 31. In this situation, first a credit applicationmust typically be completed by the customer 26. The credit issuingsystem 31, using that customer information and other availableinformation, next determines whether to issue new credit, and cancommunicate approval or rejection of the credit application to customer26 directly, through the credit authorizing system 30 or through thereservation system 28 or any combination thereof. If the creditapplication is denied, the reservation system 28 typically shall storeonly reservation information and shall only supply that information tomember service provider 32. The reservation system will provideconfirmation of the reservation or a request to select a newreservation, if a conflict exists, to customer 26.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the reservationsystem 28, credit authorizing system 30 and credit issuing system 31could all be part of a single system, may be separate systems, or maysimply be integrated or unintegrated components of much larger overallsystems. The actual configurations of systems which perform thedisclosed functions do not and should not be considered to limit thescope of the present invention.

If customer 26 selects the pre-authorized credit option and credit isapproved, credit information, such as an authorization for apre-selected amount, is sent from the credit authorizing system 30 tothe reservation system 28 and/or member service provider 32. Thereservation system 28 and/or member service provider 32 may receive thepreauthorization and other information in any number of ways. Typically,such information will be received with the reservation information.Those pieces of information then can be stored for later retrieval anduse. The preauthorization and reservation information may be received asa functional unit and may be stored as a functional unit, but that neednot be the case. Most preferably, the information is received by andstored upon a management device, such as a service provider's POSsystem.

As will be understood by those skilled in the art and with reference toFIG. 5, the management device 74 includes a memory 76, preferably havingrandom access capabilities, and a display 78, preferably a viewingscreen of known configuration. The management device 74 also may have aprinting device 80 of known configuration and functionality. Managementdevice 74 also preferably includes a device which allows the serviceprovider to input information into the device, such as a keyboard 82 orother known device. The management device 74 is in communication, via anetwork connection 82, with reservation system 28 and/or creditauthorizing system 30 and/or credit issuing system 31 and/or creditacquisition system (not shown). Information received through networkconnection 82 can be stored upon memory 76, displayed upon display 78and printed upon medium provided as part of printer 80. Preferably,device 74 stores received preauthorization, reservation and otherdesired information in memory 76 as a functional unit, i.e., logicallyrelated. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that, thoughshown as a single unit, management device 74 may, instead, be comprisedof many separate functional components, all of which taken together areconfigured to create the management device 74. Further, combinations ofseveral but not all devices into a single package very well could occurand is to be understood as being within the scope of the presentinvention.

With specific reference to FIG. 6, an exemplary embodiment of theoverall architecture of a preferred system, at least parts of which havealready been described, will now be discussed. As will be understood bythose skilled in the art, a basic component of the overall system is thereservation system 100. That system can either include or can otherwiseseamlessly communicate with a database 102, preauthorization system 104,vendors 106, 107, 108, customers 110, 112, 114, and either directly (notshown) or indirectly, credit acquisition 116 and credit issuing system118.

As has been explained and as will be understood by those skilled in theart, any number of customers 110, 112, 114 can simultaneouslycommunicate with the reservation system 100 through any number ofcommunication protocols. The reservation system 100 can likewisecommunicate with the database 102 and, either through the database ordirectly, the preauthorization system 104 and the credit issuing system118. Preauthorization system 104 and credit issuing system 118 can alsocommunicate directly, in another of the preferred embodiments, withcustomers 110, 112 and 114. Such communication may or may not benecessary, depending upon specific implementation of the system. As willbe understood by those skilled in the art, customers 110, 112, 114 cancommunicate with the reservation system 100 as needed to make, review,update, modify, cancel or otherwise change reservations. The reservationsystem 100 can also communicate on an as-needed basis with customer 110,112, 114, individually, as a group comprised of less than all customers,or a group comprised of all customers and/or others, depending upon anyparticular application or communication need.

The reservation system 100 also may communicate with credit acquisitionsystem 116, either directly (not shown) or indirectly through thedatabase 102. Credit acquisition system 116 may also communicatedirectly or indirectly with customers 110, 112 and 114, on an as-neededbasis.

Reservation system 100 also preferably may have a constant line ofcommunication with all vendors 106, 107 and 108 participating in thesystem. Vendors, 106, 107 and 108 may also bypass certain portions ofthe reservation system 100 and communicate directly with database 102(not shown), preauthorization system 104 (not shown) and credit issuingsystem 118 (not shown). Vendors 106, 107 and 108 may also, as necessary,communicate with credit acquisition system 116 directly or indirectlythrough the reservation system 100.

As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the overall preferredarchitecture set forth in FIG. 6 is provided simply for illustrativepurposes and could have any number of communication scenarios. Further,it is to be understood that the system can accommodate virtually anynumber of customers and any number of vendors. Further, one of skill inthe art would understand that, within the reservation system and/orwithin an associated database, information would be stored in a logicalmanner which would facilitate retrieval by an individual, customer,vendor or others. Such could be accomplished through any number of knowndata structures, memory partitioning systems or in other ways known inthe field.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the function of a preferredintegrated reservation and credit authorizing system. Customer accessesthe system in one of several typical and known ways in the art 35. Thesystem requests input 36 from the customer. If the customer is a newuser, the system will prompt the customer to register on the system,requiring the customer to input contact information. Once recognized,the system will prompt the customer to enter reservation information.The system 34 will then determine whether the requested service provideris a member of the credit authorizing system 38. If not, the process ofmaking the reservation is completed 40, i.e., the reservation isconfirmed and information regarding the reservation is sent to thecustomer, reservation system and service provider. If the requestedservice provider is a member of the credit authorizing system, thecustomer is prompted to use preauthorized credit to pay for service(s)to be received at the reservation. If the customer does not select thepreauthorized credit option, the customer may opt-out and complete thereservation 44. If the customer chooses the preauthorized credit option,the customer will be prompted to provide credit account information 42.Next, the system must determine the amount of credit to be approved 45.The system can determine this amount based upon any number of metrics,as discussed above.

If preauthorization is denied, the customer is notified and is promptedto either supply different credit account information to attempt toachieve preauthorization or more simply complete her reservation 48. Ifcredit is approved, the preapproval and reservation information willtypically be sent to the customer, the reservation system and, perhaps,the member service provider 52.

In another preferred embodiment of the reservation system (not shown),the ability to store meal logs for taxation or other archival purposesmay be provided. In this embodiment, customers will be prompted by thereservation system, usually while making a reservation, but perhapsthereafter as well, to state whether the reservation will be fortax-deductible or other purposes. Other descriptive information couldalso be added to the reservation record. If information is to be added,the customer will be prompted to provide such information. The overallsystem will maintain a log and provide reporting as to completedreservations, providing inputted and desired information to customers,companies and/or selected other entities. The described functionalitywill eliminate the need for customer, company or other tracking entityto keep a separate log of fees expended on events purchased through thereservation system, e.g., tax-deductible services, etc. Once again, thisfunctionality will lead to a richer value-added customer experience.

While the system has been described as having a reservation made firstand a request for credit and/or preauthorization occurring second, oneworking in the art will realize that many of the above described stepscan and often will be performed in different and varied orders, with noimpact upon overall feasibility of the preferred process.

FIG. 4 illustrates a preferred flow process of the preferred inventiononce the customer has arrived at a member service provider. Once at aservice provider location 54, the customer identifies herself (usingtraditional or non-traditional forms of identification) as a customerwith a reservation 56, requesting provision of reserved and/oradditional services 58. The service provider enters a customer's servicerequest into its management system, such as a POS system 60, which willpreferably query the integrated reservation system for necessaryinformation and verification. In this example, the customer has chosento use preauthorized credit and the overall system alerts the providerto this fact so that payment for services to be rendered will occur asanticipated by the customer. The customer next receives requested andperhaps additional services 62. The customer then requests a bill forservices provided 64. The provider's system generates a special billthat indicates payment has been preauthorized with a designated creditaccount 66. The special bill may provide for signature of the customer,the addition of a gratuity, etc. The customer usually will sign thespecial bill, perhaps leaves a gratuity, and exits the service provider68. The final bill total and other desired information is entered by theservice provider onto its system 70. Payment is issued to serviceprovider 72 in a traditional manner and as is well known in the trade72.

The invention may also be used as a marketing tool for servicesproviders or others. Marketing programs could include e-mail marketing,customer profiling, referral marketing, multi-channel marketing and giftand loyalty programs. Through the described system, an efficient methodof identifying, tracking customer recentness, frequency and amount ofmoney spent, as well as categorizing customers and their preferences,can be provided, as will be understood by one of skill in the art.Through the described system, one could also market differently to eachcategory of customers and reward customers for their desired behaviors,as will be understood by those skilled in the art.

For instance, member service providers may provide advertising orincentive programs to be used in conjunction with the overall system.Advertising by an interested service provider may be placed as in-linetext, banner, pop-up window advertising and/or other electronic meansonto a graphical user interface connecting to the system. As will beunderstood by those skilled in the art, the system could also bedesigned to create and send marketing campaigns on behalf ofparticipating service providers or others.

Another such campaign could be the marketing of special events for aservice provider. The recipient of e-mail concerning such an event couldsimply respond to the marketing material, automatically creating areservation for that event. Events that might be the subject of suchmarketing campaigns could be e-birthday cards, e-holiday cards, discountcoupon advertisements, etc.

Preferably, the reservation system will also enable customers to easilyinvite others, such as friends or co-workers to planned events whichhave been reserved through the system. For instance, customers could beable to select a service provider from the system's on-line database andmake a reservation. The customer then could create a list of inviteeswith corresponding e-mail addresses, each of which would be saved by thesystem. The system would then generate invitations to the reservedevent, sending those invitations to each of the invitees set forth onthe customer's list. Invitees could then simply respond to theirinvitation to RSVP for the event. Preferably, once the customer'sdeadline for the RSVP has passed, the overall reservation will be set inthe system, with the service provider's management system being able toobtain necessary information as desired. Thereafter, confirmations couldpreferably be sent to invitees and the customer, with automatic updates,reminders and other similar electronic notifications being sent asdesired, either by the service provider, reservation system, customer orall three. Obviously, once the invitees' contact information is added tothe overall system, they too could be marketed to through the system asoutlined above.

As should be understood, an interested service provider may also providepromotions, such as incentive/reward point systems and/or other servicediscounts through the reservation system. The reservation system couldtransmit such promotional information (e.g., discounts) to the memberservice provider to be applied to a bill for services to be rendered agiven customer or in other ways customary in the trade. Preferably, sucha system would be directly integrated with a dedicated managementdevice.

The inventive system may also be used by the member service providersand/or other third parties to track customer purchasing trends, paymenttrends, etc. Such information can later be used for purposes of directmarketing, through electronic mail or otherwise and/or through sponsoredadvertising with related Internet links of related and/or competingservice providers.

In another embodiment of the present invention, customers could receivefrequent dining points to be tracked by the system by either registeringan existing credit card with the reservation system and using it as aform of payment, or by making a reservation through the system. Eitherway, customers can receive points automatically and transparently whenthey purchase services from a participating service provider. A customercould obtain points by simply walking into a service provider and payingfor services purchased with a registered credit card or other registereddevice. Upon joining a service provider's loyalty program, each time thecustomer frequents an establishment operating under the loyalty program,they could preferably receive an e-mail confirming the number of loyaltyprogram points added to their account.

In another embodiment, a marketing campaign could be established toallow the purchase of gift cards or certificates. Optionally, thispurchase could be charged on one of the accounts on file with thereservation system or with a newly established credit account. Throughintegration of the reservation system with service provider managementsystems, these gift values could be passed from the reservation systemto the management system, similar to the preauthorization of credit, asa form of payment. The redemption of loyalty rewards can also beconverted into a gift card or e-gift certificate and be used as a formof payment on-line or in-store.

In accordance with the second exemplary embodiment, payment on file typeis utilized to facilitate purchases. Similar to the above embodiments,the architecture of FIG. 6 can be utilized to facilitate customer-vendortransactions. More particularly, a customer (110, 112, 114) arrives at avendor (106, 107, 108) and is identified as having a payment on filestored in, for example, the database 102, and optionally a reservationas well managed by the reservation system 100.

The arrival at the vendor can optionally be detected based, for example,on a detected presence of the customer, such as the customer's PDA orcell phone, passing through a geo-fence, or the like, with identityinformation and reservation information also optionally being forwardedto the vendor. As will be appreciated, this could also be doneautomatically or semi-automatically with optional rules in place toprotect sensitive customer information.

The vendor can create a customer ticket and correlate the ticket to thecustomer profile. In accordance with one exemplary embodiment, thecustomer ticket information is on the point of sale associated with thevendor and services/goods are recorded or otherwise provided on theticket. For example, in accordance with one exemplary embodiment, theremote reservation system 100 is contacted for ticket creation oralternatively still, the customer supplies a portion of the ticketinformation.

During check-out at the point of sale, three scenarios can occur. Thefirst is an express check-out option, the second is a self check-out orcheck-in with, for example, a mobile device, and the third scenariooccurs when payment from one of the first two scenarios is rejected.

For express check-out, the point of sale can confirm the ticket iscomplete. For example, by querying a database for the reservation systemand applying any applicable coupons, gift cards, etc., and applying thesame to the ticket. The ticket can then be confirmed by the customer andprinted. Once confirmed, the customer can complete the ticket, throughapplying their signature, and is able to leave the vendor with thepurchased goods and/or services. The vendor then inputs the completedticket information into the point of sale system, altering, for example,the amount to be paid if a tip has been added.

For the second scenario, a mobile device (not shown) can sendinstructions to the vendor point of sale requesting a ticket be sent tothe device. The point of sale can confirm the ticket is complete, forexample, by querying the database as described above and applyingcoupons, discount codes, gift cards, and the like, to determine a totalamount due. Once complete, the confirmed and completed ticket can besent to the customer's device where the customer has the option ofadding gratuity, confirming ticket accuracy, and authorizing paymentfrom the payment on file account and the confirmed and completed ticketbeing returned, for example, wirelessly, to the point of sale. If themobile device has such capabilities, an electronic signature can also becaptured on the mobile device and forwarded with the confirmed andcompleted ticket back to the point of sale.

For both scenarios one and two, the point of sale then sends theinformation to the database/reservation system (102/100) indicating thegoods and/or services provided, the total to be paid, and requestingpayment from the payment on file. The service provider typically thenadvises that the transaction is complete and optionally provides thePOS, or vendor, with an authorization code. Then, the database and/orreservation system processes the POS request, debiting the customeraccount and crediting the vendor account, and sending notice of the sameto the POS and one or more other designated systems.

In the third scenario, where payment is rejected, a customer canoptionally complete payment for the goods or services in a traditionalmanner, e.g. cash, check, credit card, or the like.

On the reservation side of the system, a customer queries a reservationsystem 100 looking for a placed reservation. This could be based on, forexample, one or more of name, loyalty rewards program number, socialsecurity number, address information, e-mail information, or in generalonly information that allows the customer to identify a placedreservation. Once the reservation is found, a query is performed tolocate alternative payment methods to which the customer alreadysubscribes. These alternative payment methods can be, for example, anye-commerce business model that allows payments and money transfers to bemade through the Internet. One example of such service is PayPal® aswell as E-Cash, the Ripple Monitory System, PayMate, and GoogleCheck-Out.

If an alternative payment method is found, the customer can confirmtheir reservation and be provided with an interface (for example on acomputer or mobile device) that allows a payment on file to be created.For example, the necessary information can be requested from thecustomer such that the reservation system is able to access the paymenton file account, such as the last four digits of the social securitynumber (SSN), login information, billing information, or the like. Withthis information, the reservation system is able to communicate with thepayment on file system to approve the transaction.

Once the transaction is approved, the customer can be provided withconfirmation of the reservation via confirmation, such as an e-mail, SMSmessage, voice message, or the like, and also be provided withinstructions on how to alert the service provided to the payment onfile, and optionally any other pertinent information. The customer canalso add coupons, loyalty program numbers, preferences, cell phonenumber, address information, shipping information, payment record, orany other relevant information as needed. This information then can becollected and added to the reservation.

On the back-end, a unique payment on file code is generated and storedin database 102 in conjunction with the reservation. The payment on fileinformation can include code information at the database, such as thereservation system database. Next, the vendor's point of sale system isinformed of the reservation, that there is a payment on file for goodsand/or services to be provided, and any other necessary data to completethe transaction, such as the code information. Some or all of the aboveinformation can be sent to the point of sale, or only a portion sent tothe point of sale with the point of sale accessing needed informationfrom the database.

FIG. 7 outlines an exemplary method used for a payment on file typetransaction. Control begins in step S700 and continues to step S710. Instep S710, a customer arrives at a vendor and indicates a payment onfile is stored in, for example, the database 102, and optionally areservation as well managed by the reservation system.

The arrival at the vendor can optionally be detected based, for example,on a detected presence of the customer, such as the customer's PDA orcell phone, passing through a geo-fence, or the like, with identityinformation and reservation information also optionally being forwardedto the vendor. As will be appreciated, this could also be doneautomatically or semi-automatically with optional rules in place toprotect sensitive customer information.

Next, in step S720, the vendor can create a customer ticket andcorrelate the ticket to the customer profile. In accordance with oneexemplary embodiment, the customer ticket information is on the point ofsale associated with the vendor and services/goods are recorded orotherwise provided on the ticket. For example, in accordance with oneoptional exemplary embodiment, in step S730, the remote reservationsystem is contacted for ticket creation or alternatively still, thecustomer supplies a portion of the ticket information.

During check-out at the point of sale, three scenarios can occur asindicated in step S740. The first is an express check-out option, wherecontrol jumps to step S750, the second is a self check-out or check-in,where control jumps to step S742, with, for example, a mobile device,and the third scenario, where control jump to step S760, occurs whenpayment from one of the first two scenarios is rejected.

For express check-out, and in step S750, the point of sale can confirmthe ticket is complete, for example, by querying a database for thereservation system and applying any applicable coupons, gift cards,etc., and applying the same to the ticket. The ticket can then beconfirmed by the customer and printed. Once confirmed, the customer cancomplete the ticket in step S752, through applying their signature, andis able to leave the vendor with the purchased goods and/or services.The vendor then inputs in step S754 the completed ticket informationinto the point of sale system, altering, for example, the amount to bepaid if a tip has been added.

For the second scenario, in step S742, a mobile device (not shown) cansend instructions to the vendor point of sale requesting a ticket besent to the device. The point of sale can confirm the ticket iscomplete, for example, by querying the database as described above andapplying coupons, discount codes, gift cards, and the like, to determinea total amount due. Once complete, the confirmed and completed ticketcan be sent to the customer's device where the customer has the optionof adding gratuity, confirming ticket accuracy, and authorizing paymentfrom the payment on file account and the confirmed and completed ticketbeing returned, for example, wirelessly, to the point of sale. If themobile device has such capabilities, an electronic signature can also becaptured on the mobile device and forwarded with the confirmed andcompleted ticket back to the point of sale.

For both scenarios one and two, in step S744, the point of sale thensends the information to the database/reservation system indicating thegoods and/or services provided, the total to be paid, and requestingpayment from the payment on file. The service provider typically thenadvises that the transaction is complete and optionally provides thePOS, or vendor, with an authorization code. Then, in step S746, thedatabase and/or reservation system processes the POS request, debitingthe customer account and crediting the vendor account, and sendingnotice of the same to the POS and one or more other designated systems.Control then continues to step S748 where the control sequence ends.

In the third scenario, in step S760, where payment is rejected, acustomer can optionally complete payment for the goods or services in atraditional manner, e.g. cash, check, credit card, or the like. Controlthen continues to step S762 where the control sequence ends.

On the reservation side of the system, as illustrated in FIG. 8, controlbegins in step S800 and continues to step S810. In step S810, a customerqueries a reservation system looking for a placed reservation. Thiscould be based on, for example, one or more of name, loyalty rewardsprogram number, social security number, address information, e-mailinformation, or in general only information that allows the customer toidentify a placed reservation. In step S820, if a reservation is notfound, control continues to step S822 where an indication of the same isdisplayed, with control jumping back to step S810 if another query is tobe performed.

Once the reservation is found, in step S830 a query is performed tolocate alternative payment methods to which the customer alreadysubscribes. These alternative payment methods can be, for example, anye-commerce business model that allows payments and money transfers to bemade through the Internet. One example of such service is PayPal® aswell as E-Cash, the Ripple Monitory System, PayMate, and GoogleCheck-Out. If an alternative payment method is not found, controlcontinues to step S842 where the customer is asked to confirm thereservation information and/or utilize the pre-authorization model.

In step S850, and if an alternative payment method is found, thecustomer can confirm their reservation and be provided with an interface(for example on a computer or mobile device) that allows a payment onfile to be created. For example, in step S860, the necessary informationcan be requested from the customer such that the reservation system isable to access the payment on file account, such as the last four digitsof the social security number (SSN), login information, billinginformation, or the like. With this information, the reservation systemis able to communicate in step S870 with the payment on file system toapprove the transaction. If the transaction is not approved, controljumps to step S800, otherwise control continues to step S890 to StepS900 in FIG. 9.

Alternatively, the system could capture the customer's email addressand, using known techniques (such as reverse lookup) perform a search todetermine if the customer has a payment on file account. If such anaccount is located, the customer could simply automatically be presentedwith an option to attach or otherwise associate that account with thetransaction.

In step S880, and if the transaction is not approved, the customer canbe asked if they want to use another payment on file record and, if so,control returns to step S860.

Once the transaction is approved, two options are available in stepS910. In the first option, control continues to step S920 where thecustomer can be provided with confirmation of the reservation viaconfirmation, such as an e-mail, SMS message, voice message, or thelike, and also be provided with instructions on how to alert the serviceprovided to the payment on file, and optionally any other pertinentinformation. The customer can also, in step S922, add coupons, loyaltyprogram numbers, preferences, cell phone number, address information,shipping information, payment record, or any other relevant informationas needed. This information then can be collected in step S924 and addedto the reservation. Control then continues to step S926 where thecontrol sequence ends.

On the back-end in option two, control continues to step S930 where aunique payment on file code is generated and stored in database inconjunction with the reservation. The payment on file information caninclude code information at the database, such as the reservation systemdatabase. Next, in step S932, the vendor's point of sale system isinformed of the reservation, that there is a payment on file for goodsand/or services to be provided, and any other necessary data to completethe transaction, such as the code information. Some or all of the aboveinformation can be sent in step S934 to the point of sale, or only aportion sent to the point of sale with the point of sale accessingneeded information from the database. Control then continues to stepS936 where the control sequence ends.

The present invention, in various embodiments, includes components,methods, processes, systems and/or apparatus as depicted and describedherein, including various embodiments, subcombinations, and subsetsthereof. Those of skill in the art will understand how to make and usethe present invention after understanding the present disclosure. Thepresent invention, in various embodiments, includes providing devicesand processes in the absence of items not depicted and/or describedherein or in various embodiments hereof, including in the absence ofsuch items as may have been used in previous devices or processes, e.g.,for improving performance, achieving ease and/or reducing cost ofimplementation.

The foregoing discussion of the invention has been presented forpurposes of illustration and description. The foregoing is not intendedto limit the invention to the form or forms disclosed herein. In theforegoing Detailed Description for example, various features of theinvention are grouped together in one or more embodiments for thepurpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is notto be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed inventionrequires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather,as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than allfeatures of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus, the followingclaims are hereby incorporated into this Detailed Description, with eachclaim standing on its own as a separate preferred embodiment of theinvention.

Moreover, though the description of the invention has includeddescription of one or more embodiments and certain variations andmodifications, other variations and modifications are within the scopeof the invention, e.g., as may be within the skill and knowledge ofthose in the art, after understanding the present disclosure. It isintended to obtain rights which include alternative embodiments to theextent permitted, including alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalentstructures, functions, ranges or steps to those claimed, whether or notsuch alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalent structures, functions,ranges or steps are disclosed herein, and without intending to publiclydedicate any patentable subject matter.

A number of variations and modifications of the invention can also beused. It would be possible to provide or claim some features of theinvention without providing or claiming others.

The exemplary systems and methods of this invention have been describedin relation to enhancing device operation through context monitoring.However, to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention, thedescription omits a number of known structures and devices. Thisomission is not to be construed as a limitation of the scope of theclaimed invention. Specific details are set forth to provide anunderstanding of the present invention. It should however be appreciatedthat the present invention may be practiced in a variety of ways beyondthe specific detail set forth herein.

Furthermore, while the exemplary embodiments illustrated herein showvarious components of the system collocated; certain components of thesystem can be located remotely, at distant portions of a distributednetwork, such as a LAN, cable network, and/or the Internet, or within adedicated system. Thus, it should be appreciated, that the components ofthe system can be combined in to one or more devices, such as a gateway,or collocated on a particular node of a distributed network, such as ananalog and/or digital communications network, a packet-switch network, acircuit-switched network or a cable network.

It will be appreciated from the preceding description, and for reasonsof computational efficiency, that the components of the system can bearranged at any location within a distributed network of componentswithout affecting the operation of the system. For example, the variouscomponents can be located in a switch such as a PBX and media server,gateway, a cable provider, enterprise system, in one or morecommunications devices, at one or more users' premises, or somecombination thereof. Similarly, one or more functional portions of thesystem could be distributed between a communications device(s) and anassociated computing device.

Furthermore, it should be appreciated that the various links, such aslink 5, connecting the elements can be wired or wireless links, or anycombination thereof, or any other known or later developed element(s)that is capable of supplying and/or communicating data to and from theconnected elements. These wired or wireless links can also be securelinks and may be capable of communicating encrypted information.Transmission media used as links, for example, can be any suitablecarrier for electrical signals, including coaxial cables, copper wireand fiber optics, and may take the form of acoustic or light waves, suchas those generated during radio-wave and infra-red data communications.

Also, while the flowcharts have been discussed and illustrated inrelation to a particular sequence of events, it should be appreciatedthat changes, additions, and omissions to this sequence can occurwithout materially affecting the operation of the invention.

In yet another embodiment, the systems and methods of this invention canbe implemented in conjunction with a special purpose computer, aprogrammed microprocessor or microcontroller and peripheral integratedcircuit element(s), an ASIC or other integrated circuit, a digitalsignal processor, a hard-wired electronic or logic circuit such asdiscrete element circuit, a programmable logic device or gate array suchas PLD, PLA, FPGA, PAL, special purpose computer, any comparable means,or the like. In general, any device(s) or means capable of implementingthe methodology illustrated herein can be used to implement the variousaspects of this invention.

Exemplary hardware that can be used for the present invention includescomputers, handheld devices, telephones (e.g., cellular, Internetenabled, digital, analog, hybrids, and others), and other hardware knownin the art. Some of these devices include processors (e.g., a single ormultiple microprocessors), memory, nonvolatile storage, input devices,and output devices. Furthermore, alternative software implementationsincluding, but not limited to, distributed processing orcomponent/object distributed processing, parallel processing, or virtualmachine processing can also be constructed to implement the methodsdescribed herein.

In yet another embodiment, the disclosed methods may be readilyimplemented in conjunction with software using object or object-orientedsoftware development environments that provide portable source code thatcan be used on a variety of computer or workstation platforms.Alternatively, the disclosed system may be implemented partially orfully in hardware using standard logic circuits or VLSI design. Whethersoftware or hardware is used to implement the systems in accordance withthis invention is dependent on the speed and/or efficiency requirementsof the system, the particular function, and the particular software orhardware systems or microprocessor or microcomputer systems beingutilized.

In yet another embodiment, the disclosed methods may be partiallyimplemented in software that can be stored on a storage medium, executedon programmed general-purpose computer with the cooperation of acontroller and memory, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, orthe like. In these instances, the systems and methods of this inventioncan be implemented as a program embedded on personal computer such as anapplet, JAVA® or CGI script, as a resource residing on a server orcomputer workstation, as a routine embedded in a dedicated measurementsystem, system component, or the like. The system can also beimplemented by physically incorporating the system and/or method into asoftware and/or hardware system.

Although the present invention describes components and functionsimplemented in the embodiments with reference to particular standardsand protocols, the invention is not limited to such standards andprotocols. Other similar standards and protocols not mentioned hereinare in existence and are considered to be included in the presentinvention. Moreover, the standards and protocols mentioned herein andother similar standards and protocols not mentioned herein areperiodically superseded by faster or more effective equivalents havingessentially the same functions. Such replacement standards and protocolshaving the same functions are considered equivalents included in thepresent invention.

The present invention, in various embodiments, configurations, andaspects, includes components, methods, processes, systems and/orapparatus substantially as depicted and described herein, includingvarious embodiments, subcombinations, and subsets thereof. Those ofskill in the art will understand how to make and use the presentinvention after understanding the present disclosure. The presentinvention, in various embodiments, configurations, and aspects, includesproviding devices and processes in the absence of items not depictedand/or described herein or in various embodiments, configurations, oraspects hereof, including in the absence of such items as may have beenused in previous devices or processes, e.g., for improving performance,achieving ease and/or reducing cost of implementation.

The foregoing discussion of the invention has been presented forpurposes of illustration and description. The foregoing is not intendedto limit the invention to the form or forms disclosed herein. In theforegoing Detailed Description for example, various features of theinvention are grouped together in one or more embodiments,configurations, or aspects for the purpose of streamlining thedisclosure. The features of the embodiments, configurations, or aspectsof the invention may be combined in alternate embodiments,configurations, or aspects other than those discussed above. This methodof disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention thatthe claimed invention requires more features than are expressly recitedin each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventiveaspects lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosedembodiment, configuration, or aspect. Thus, the following claims arehereby incorporated into this Detailed Description, with each claimstanding on its own as a separate preferred embodiment of the invention.

Moreover, though the description of the invention has includeddescription of one or more embodiments, configurations, or aspects andcertain variations and modifications, other variations, combinations,and modifications are within the scope of the invention, e.g., as may bewithin the skill and knowledge of those in the art, after understandingthe present disclosure. It is intended to obtain rights which includealternative embodiments, configurations, or aspects to the extentpermitted, including alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalentstructures, functions, ranges or steps to those claimed, whether or notsuch alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalent structures, functions,ranges or steps are disclosed herein, and without intending to publiclydedicate any patentable subject matter.

1. A payment method comprising: identifying a reservation and a paymenton file; creating a ticket at a point of sale device, the ticketcorrelatable to a profile associated with a customer with the payment onfile; and receiving an indication of a checkout method, the checkoutmethods including one or more of: express checkout, self check out, andalternative checkout. 2-20. (canceled)